The attacker, who enjoyed two spells at Celtic Park, believes the current head coach faces the chop following some unimpressive team performances, coupled with failure in Europe.

Glasgow rivals Celtic and Rangers come face to face on Sunday in their Scottish Cup semi-final bout at Hampden Park, with both sides vying for a place in the tournament finale. The two Old Firm teams last met in February 2015 in the Scottish League Cup - a match Celtic won 2-0.

Rangers confirmed their place in the Scottish Premiership for next season after securing elevation from the Championship at the second attempt earlier this month following three promotions in four seasons. The Gers dropped down in the bottom tier in 2012-13 but have pushed hard to return to the top table.

Ahead of their upcoming clash with their perennial rivals, former Hoops striker Frank McAvennie believes the Celtic hierarchy have already made their decision over the future of manager Ronny Deila following some uninspired performances during his tenure.

Celtic are in pole position to secure their fifth consecutive league title with an eight point lead over closest challengers Hearts but McAvennie believes the Danish head coach has run out of time to change the mind of the decision makers.

“The decision’s already been made on that, don’t you think?” he is quoted as saying to the Scotsman.

“To me there are three people who can make the decision – Dermot Desmond, Peter Lawwell and the supporters.

“The supporters will turn out in force for this one and I just can’t comprehend Celtic getting beat, because it wouldn’t be a good city for Ronny.

“He’s got to change the way he plays. I just don’t understand this one up front in Scottish football. I can understand it in Europe but against teams in Scotland, especially at Celtic Park, play two up front and get the fans back.

“Start playing entertaining football. It’s not been very entertaining recently. The fans have stayed away because of that – no other reason.

“They’ve bought their season tickets but they’re not going to games. Ronny can stay if he wants as long as he learns from it – but he doesn’t seem to be learning from it.”

Tom Beck

Tom Beck is a freelance football writer from London currently based in Melbourne via Buenos Aires. Previously a BBC Radio reporter, his work has been published in Goal, World Soccer, Bleacher Report and ESPN. Has a penchant for South American football.